The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1887-06-24

Canada has since made such rapid progress
that all the colonies, from Prince Edward
island to British Columbia, are now united In
q confederation, and new nation OF 8, OOO,OO0
people and nearly 100000 square miles Dor
ders the United States on the north. The
government Is a happy combination OF the
British and American systems, each prov
ince self governing In local affairs and the
Ottawa parliament over all. The Marquis OF
Lansdowne is now governor general and Sir
John Macdonald Is head OF the government as
premier and leader Of the Tory majority In
the house of commons. The Chartists next
began an agitation for universal manhood
suffrage, parliaments elected yearly, vote by
ballot, no property qualification for the rights
and duties Of citizenship, payment OF salary
to members Of parliament and the division OF
the United Kingdom into parliamentary dis
tricts according to population
Fanatics and impostors multiplied. One
Thorn proclaimed himself the new Messiah
and had thousands of followers, chiefly In
Kent. Thorn shot dead policeman who
sought to arrest him. Soldiers came and the
mob attacked them; they fred one volley
and stretched Thorn and many OF his adhe-
rents dead. A wild orator named Feargus
OConner infamed the people to madness.
Formidable riots occurred at several places.
Very many Chartists were prosecuted and i'm
prisoned by the government. The European
revolutions of 1S4S blew the Chartist excite
ment to fever heat; and monster mass
meeting was called for April 10, 1s4S, on
Kensington common. A hundred thousand
laborers were to assemble and march with q
petition to the house of commons. The gov
eminent forbade the meeting; but all London
was in panic. The Duke of Wellington
posted soldiers to protect the public buildings,
and many thousand special constables and
policemen were sworn in. Among those
who volunteered as policemen was Prince
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, then an exile in
England and soon after to be emperor of the
French. At the last minute the Chartists
yielded, and thereafter their power seemed
to vanish all at once. The best Of the meas
ures they asked for have since become laws in
England.
The Chartist riots, the agitation for the re-
peal Of the corn laws and the general move
ment to improve the condition Of laborers
appear to have unsettled many minds; and
as generally happens in such cases, a spirit Of
assassination was excited. June 10, 1S40
Edward Oxford, boy Of II, fired twice at
the queen as she was out driving with her
husband; the jury pronounced him insane
and ne endedshis life in an asylum. Another
attempt on the queens life was made May
30, 1912. This was by John Francis, young
machinest, and on the very spot where Ok
ford's attempt was made. He fired two shots,
at but few feet distant; but it was set up
on his trial that the pistol was loaded only
with wads. He was found guilty of high
treason and sentenced to death. but the queen
committed it to imprisonment for life; and on
the very day after the Communication was pub
lished a hunchback named Bean aimed
pistol at her majesty, but was seized and dis
armed by boy standing near. The pistol
was loaded only with paper and fragments of
a clay pipe; SO Bean escaped with the very
trifling penalty OF eighteen months imprison-
ment. On May 10, 1849, an Irish bricklayer
pistol, loaded only with powder,
at the queen, for which he wasA transported,
for seven years. On May 81, 1850, Robert
Pate, who had been discharged from the po-
sition of lieutenant in the Hussars, struck the
queen across the face with cane as she was
entering her carriage; he also received
sentence to seven years transportation. And
finally, on Feb. 20, 1872, a 17-year-oid boy,
Arthur O'Connor, aimed pistol at the
queen; but it proved to be unloaded and to
have defective lock- He received twelve
months imprisonment and a public whip
ping; and there were no more attempts at as
sassination or intimidation
By the factories act Of 1874 children of ten
der years were excluded from the mills, and
the hours Of such as were admitted limited to
seven or ten per day, according to age. By
another act it was absolutely forbidden to
employ women or girls in the mines and col
lieries. Following this came the long and
heated agitation for free importation Of food.
By the corn laws Of 1915 all foreign grain was
fairfield at rate which practically forbade
its importation, except when scarcity raised
The home price almost to the famine line
The Irish famine compelled parliament to
take action, and though Sir Robert Peel had
taken the post of prime minister as Con-
sentative, he went over to the Radicals on
this point, and in June, 1916, the corn laws
we're absolutely repealed. This was followed
rapidly by removal of taxes from other arti-
lies of food, and consequently by vast in
crease in import and consumption, and since
1850 Great Britain has been pointed at as the
,ne great free trade nation in the world.
The Irish famine which forced the action
If Peel and his colleagues began i'll the
autumn of 1915 with peculiar blight upon
he potato-the standard food Of the poor.
IN 1916 not only did The plant wither under
he blight, but the potatoes rotted even in tie
cellars and pits after being dug, when APP |
,arently sound; and the long reign of misery |
&AS&o ~